Court to hear suit against Arik aircraft seizure

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court on Wednesday fixed Aug 5 to hear a suit seeking to stop the seizure of the aircraft and other properties belonging to Arik Air Limited over 2.5 million dollars in debt.

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) filed a motion on notice in reaction to Monday’s seizure of Arik aircraft and other assets by Atlas Petroleum International Ltd. and its sponsor.

AMCON is seeking to stop the continued seizure of the Arik Airlines properties on the grounds that the airline was already under another receivership following its indebtedness to Zenith Bank Plc to the tune of N37 billion.

However, Justice Iheme Nwosu could not proceed with the hearing and determination of AMCON’s suit against the seizure of the aircraft.

This was due to the fact that the deputy sheriff was not served with the motion as required by law.

Justice Nwosu subsequently fixed Aug. 5 for hearing in AMCON’s motion.

Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, who has been elevated as a justice of appeals court, issued an order on June 26 directing the attachment and sale of all movable properties of Arik Air Limited found within the jurisdiction of the court.

Consequently, the judgement creditor, in enforcing the order of the court, seized aircraft and aircraft hangers.

In addition, Boeing 737s with registration numbers B737.700/5N-MJF, B737.800/5N-MJQ, DASH8.Q400, and 5N-BKK were purchased in satisfaction of the $2.5 million debt against the airline.

Speaking with journalists shortly after the proceedings, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and counsel to Atlas Petroleum Limited, Sebastine Hon, confirmed that AMCON filed the motion seeking to stop the enforcement of the order against Arik Airline over its huge debt to Atlas Petroleum.

He noted that while his clients were in the process of enforcement, "AMCON, surprisingly,

”I will say they came to intervene that Arik Air is under receivership when they were aware of the matter right from the Lagos High Court to the Supreme Court and the judgements were given against Arik.

“We are going on with the enforcement as permitted by the law.

”We will not flout the law or any order of court but as it is, the Minister of Aviation who was served with the enforcement orders has succeeded in grounding two aircrafts which are not related to the application AMCON brought to court to stop the enforcement,” he said